The UFC is one of, if not the best fight promotion out there for combat sports, and amateur fighters dream about being a part of the roster under this banner. But is it easy? Definitely not. Why?—because it’s hard to impress the bossman Dana White, who’s pretty strict about whom to include in his roster and who to axe. Getting axed also depends on how big a star you are in the promotion. Some athletes like Conor McGregor and Jon Jones achieved greatness from the promotion despite some controversial shenanigans, but not everyone is that lucky.
For instance, Nikolay Veretennikov lost his cool after his second-round TKO loss to Austin Vanderford at UFC Fight Night 252 and decided to shove his opponent. This aggression was not taken lightly by the UFC bossman and he decided to shut the door for him forever. He received a lifetime ban and was removed from the roster.
In the latest, the promotion released 4 fighters; Cortavious Romious, Pedro Falcao, Caolan Loughran, and Lucas Alexander. Romious was removed from the promotion after a 0-2 streak, along with Falcao, who is also 0-2 in UFC. The duo failed to earn a big win after they were signed and thus got rejected by the promotion. However, Loughran was a successful fighter who was removed. ‘The Don‘ won two out of 4 fights in UFC, both via unanimous decision. As for Alexander, he had a 1-3 skid on top of missing weight and managing only 4 bouts since 2022.
The bossman is pretty generous when fighters perform well, but can be ruthless when they don’t. Meanwhile, he decided to hire Aaron Pico and Kyoji Horiguchi for the promotion. The 19-2-0 Japanese star was hired by UFC after vacating his RIZIN Flyweight World Championship. He had a brief stint in UFC from 2013 to 2016 and lost to the then-champion, Demetrious Johnson.
Pico was added to the featherweight division after his vicious split from PFL. The California native has won nine out of his past 10 bouts, with a loss coming in a battle against Jeremy Kennedy. Now the 28-year-old will debut in UFC, and he announced the exciting news on Instagram. “After years of hard work, dedication, and unwavering belief, I’ve officially signed with the @UFC!“ Pico wrote on the social media platform.
Fighter removed: Pedro Falcao
— UFC Roster Watch (@UFCRosterWatch) April 24, 2025
However, another fighter who has been on the roster for a long time did not see good news come up recently. Dana White did not fire him but his salary was axed at 20%. Let’s see why.
Dana White deducts 20% of Giga Chikadze’s salary for UFC Kansas City
The UFC is returning to Kansas City, and most fighters were successful in the weigh-ins except for one surprising incident. The #14-ranked featherweight Giga Chikadze missed weight, being one pound more over the weight limit. Before he could step inside the Octagon against David Onama, he faced a hurdle. He weighed in at 147 pounds at Friday’s official weigh-ins for the UFC event in Kansas City. Meanwhile, his opponent officially made the perfect weight. ‘The Ninja’ weighed 1 pound over the limit in a non-title fight, which typically contains a one-pound allowance. Hence, the Georgian lost 20% of his purse from the fight.
Meanwhile, he mentioned his mindset previously about fighting Onama. During the media day, he said, “I feel like that’s an investment for me.” He further added, “Fight somebody who’s not ranked, so I’m going to expect something after, something big from the UFC. I do something for them, they do something for me. I’m here to become a champion. That’s the only reason I’m in the UFC. I’m not here just to get paid.”
Just hours are left for the fight to start, and Chikadze is coming in full throttle. Do you think he will win? What do you think about the latest firing of athletes from the UFC roster?
The post Dana White Fires 4 UFC Fighters Instantly Despite Making Moves to Get 2 New MMA Stars appeared first on EssentiallySports.